111th Congress off to an untidy start

WASHINGTON -- As the new Senate opened for business Tuesday, it offered more story lines than a soap opera.

In one corner stood Sen. Joe Biden, who soon will resign his Senate seat to assume the vice presidency. Not far away sat Sen. John McCain, who lost to the man at the top of the Democratic ticket, President-elect and former Sen. Barack Obama.

On the other side of the chamber sat Sen. Hillary Clinton, vanquished by Obama in the Democratic primaries but now likely to leave the Senate soon to serve as secretary of state. Close by sat Sen. Joe Lieberman, almost tossed out of the Democratic caucus for his support of McCain.

If that weren't enough, outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney presided over the opening session. He administered the oath of office to Biden.

But the drama inside the chamber was matched by events beyond it. Earlier in the day, Illinois' Roland Burris attempted to gain admittance to the Senate but was turned away because of faulty paperwork -- Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White had refused to certify the governor's appointment of the replacement for Obama.

And while Senate Democrats have proclaimed comedian Al Franken winner of his extended battle with incumbent Republican Norm Coleman for a Senate seat in Minnesota, they won't admit Franken until he, too, has a better legal claim on the post.

All in all, if Franken holds on, Democrats will have taken eight Senate seats away from Republicans, creating a commanding majority. This will increase pressure to deliver on legislation, something that became nearly impossible in the last Congress, which was racked with partisan warfare.

"[B]oth parties learned an important lesson over the past two years," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday. "When we allow ourselves to retreat into the tired, well-worn trenches of partisanship, when we fail to reach for common ground, when we are unable, in the words of President-elect Obama, to disagree without being disagreeable, we diminish our ability to accomplish real change."

The new Senate is far from settled.

Arguably the most powerful woman in Washington, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was re-elected as speaker of the House on Tuesday. After the vote, Pelosi and Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio offered conciliatory words in keeping with Obama's promise to transcend partisan bickering.

"Obama has expressed a desire to govern from the center," Boehner said. "When our president extends his hand across the aisle to do what's right for the country, Republicans will extend ours in return."

Pelosi emphasized the need to act quickly on economic and other issues.